Pokémon: Rocket Version
by peppermint.raichu
Summary: After Professor Oak's death, the Pokémon world becomes a game ruled by the elite of society. But when a waitress from Celadon City stumbles upon a Pokémon that just won't let her go, she must begin her own Pokémon journey. Please review!
1. Intro

Professor Oak died when I was seven years old.

At the time, I didn't think much of it. I was sad, of course, but I was also seven and living in Celadon City. We got the day off from school and all the adults were super sad, but I thought nothing of it. I just spent the day playing with my best friend, Aiden. We played with our Pokémon action figures in the living room while our mothers discussed grown up things.

Or what I thought were grownup things. Turns out, they were actually ten year old things. The week before I turned ten, I kept hounding my mother to talk to me about which Pokémon I should chose, and how best to plan for my journey. It wasn't until the night before I turned ten that my mother sat me down in the kitchen, handed me my worn Charmander plushie, and told me with a tear in her eye that she couldn't afford to send me on the journey.

My mouth dropped open. For the next week, all I did was cry and stay in my room. I didn't go to school. My mom didn't make me.

At ten, the policies preventing me from going made no sense to me. Money was not supposed to be a part of Pokémon. But with the new fees put in place by the new Professor Oak, such as the Pokémon License fee, the cost of the Pokédex, and especially the cost of a starter Pokémon, my mother couldn't afford it. She could hardly afford to keep us in our tiny apartment, even with her two jobs. The only reason she did it was that the apartment was closer to the Route Seven side of Celadon, the better side, with the better school districts.

But I finished school, seething with jealousy every time another classmate of mine left school to train. By my senior year of high school, the only kids left were the ones who could not afford to go, or who had chosen not to. I graduated without honors, unlike Aiden. He was valedictorian, and deservedly so. But even with his top marks, he stayed in Celadon to attend CC—Celadon College. Really, he should have gone to Pallet Town University, the top school for aspiring trainers. He said he didn't want to move that far away, but it always felt like cowardice to me.

At least he got a chance to work with Pokémon. The Ivysaur League of colleges sprung up around the time Professor Oak began to start charging to become a trainer, as a way around the fees. Basically, you went to college for four years, majored in Pokémon Studies with a focus on a certain region, and once you graduated you applied for a fellowship with the school. If you got the fellowship, you were allowed to become a trainer for as long as you kept winning or providing the school with new and useful information.

It was a way to become a trainer, but it was too much effort for me. Instead, I lived at home for a year, watching all my friends go off to college. After a year, my mother left for Goldenrod City in Johto. She had gotten a job as a manager of an up and coming hotel, and couldn't turn it down. The commute was too much to do daily, and I understood that. So, I packed my things, at the age of twenty, and finally left the apartment I had grown up in.

It didn't take long to find tiny place on the other side of Celadon, and a job after that. In a few months, I had my new life all set.

Strange to think that I ended up as the next leader of Team Rocket.

Of course, no one sets out to be the leader of a criminal organization—at least, not someone with my motivation. It was a slow process, a culmination of different circumstances.

Like most stories, it began on a dark and stormy night…


	2. Chapter 1

It was a cold night, and the rain outside was steadily pouring. Sam, the owner and bartender, had the door propped open to air the place out for the night. We hadn't had a customer in over an hour, and now that the door was open I knew it must be about half an hour till closing. Sam wouldn't let the door be open much longer than that.

"Ali!"

I slowly picked my head off the wooden table. Well, there goes nap time. "What?" I called back, my eyes still fixed on the table.

"Customers! Get up!"

I rolled my neck, pushed my blonde hair out of my face, and got up. Of course, thirty minutes to closing, we'd have customers. Of course. So I adjusted my skirt and walked over to where they were sitting. They were the typical type that came in at two thirty in the morning—burly, short hair, and gruff voices. "What can I get you guys?" I asked in a monotone voice. My purse was already full of tips; I didn't feel the need to give any costumer service.

"Two beers, darlin'," the first guy slurred, making a grab for me.

I dodged it. "Anything else?"

"I only owe you one beer," the second guy added, "That Pokémon was pathetic anyway."

I kept a poker face. They smelled like they didn't need any more alcohol.

"You said it was your best one, and I took it out with my Weedle." He guffawed. "You're pathetic."

"Two beers, got it." I hurried off after that, before I had to hear any more.

Sam heard the order and had the beers ready by the time I sulked back to the bar. He offered me a sympathetic smile and I took it with a nod. We both knew what they were talking about and we both didn't like it.

"Tell them it's on the house," he whispered to me. "I don't want them staying here very long."

I nodded again. There were really only two types of people that came to our no name little bar: trainers fresh out of Diglett's Cave or Route 16 who just wanted a cheap drink, and thugs like this. I put their drinks on the table and then stepped back, out of reach.

"It's on the house."

They made a few more crude comments, and I tuned them out. I really couldn't stand them, but I knew what I had gotten myself into when I signed up for the job. Sam didn't like to hire help because of it; however, the tip money associated with being the only waitress in the bar was too good to pass down.

"Take the trash out, okay?" Sam told me. It sounded like a question, but questions were always orders with Sam.

I just nodded. He handed me the large bag of trash, already tied off. I threw it over my shoulder, feeling like some disgusting Santa.

Out the door, and instantly covered in rain. I shivered slightly. Today of all days, and I didn't bring my coat. Hopefully, I thought, it'll lighten up before I have to walk home. Fall weather in Kanto is generally pretty mild, after all.

After a moment or two, my eyes had adjusted to the lack of light, and I headed out for the large dumpster used by the entire alley. Overall, the neighborhood was not great. Not as bad as some parts of Saffron, sure, but still not the place you'd want to set up a summer home. There was a dim sum place down the street that wasn't bad, a few convenience stores, a cheap hotel…

And the basement of the bar.

I had to walk past it to get to the dumpster, and I did so at a near run. Instead of renting out the back room of the bar, Sam instead chose to keep his stock in the back room and rent out the basement. In this kind of neighborhood, there weren't many takers, but Sam eventually rented the place out to a few guys. It became clear, however, that they were running an illegal Pokémon fighting ring almost as soon as they set up. Illegal as in unlicensed Pokémon battling with these things called Suppression Collars. Basically, they kept a Pokémon from using its natural powers, and only fighting on brute strength.

But all of the illegal trainers, if you could even call them that, would come to Sam's for a drink or so afterwards, and so they came up with an agreement: neither would get the other in trouble, as long as they kept coming to Sam's for drinks.

That was why Sam never hired anyone. He only trusted himself to keep his mouth shut about it. And me, too, but what would I do? I needed the money, and Sam knew that was enough to keep my mouth shut.

I reached the dumpster completely soaked. So much for it letting up.

With one giant heave, I lobbed the trash bag into the stinking dumpster. With that done, I hurried back inside the bar. I kept towards the back, dripping water on the floor in a place that would be easy to mop up later. I knew Sam would give me hell if I tracked water all over the floor this late at night.

From where I was standing, I could barely see the two men. They were standing now, shakily, the free beers finished.

"So what'll you do now that the Pokémon 's gone?" the winner asked the loser.

The loser shrugged and stumbled, but caught himself. "I'm waiting on an order from Sinnoh, so I'm not too worried. This one's supposed to be a real fighter, unlike that pile of trash."

The winner snickered. "You really showed that piece of trash what's what."

"Yup. Trash goes out with the trash."

Laughing to themselves, the two inebriated men left the bar.

Sam paused a moment before going and locking up for the night. He bolted the large front door and the two windows.

I couldn't move. "Sam," I asked tentatively, "Did you hear what they were saying?"

Sam didn't turn around. "I didn't hear anything, kid. And if you're smart, you didn't hear anything either."

"I know, but—"

Sam walked back to the back of the bar and shook his head. The balding man stood at an impressive six foot three, with muscles to match. He had to, to keep a place like this open. "Ali, you've worked here, no problems, for over a year. Can't you just keep it like that?" He looked out the open door, and then to the pile of water I had created. "Look. Forget about it, and you can borrow my coat to walk home with, okay?"

I sighed. "Fine."

He ruffled my hair. Sam had two kids himself, a son who was off in college in Lavender, and a daughter who married a wealthy Pokémon rancher somewhere in Unova. He never spoke about them much, but he did keep a picture of each in the cash register drawer.

"Here." He threw his coat at me, and I barely caught it. The trench coat was almost floor length on him, and as I put it on, it engulfed my five foot three frame. Sam stifled a laugh. "At least it'll keep you dry. Now go home, kid, and get some sleep."

So I said goodnight to Sam, grabbed my purse, and left the bar once again, back out into the pouring rain.

I walked slowly, the trench coat not really helping against the rain. I thought that, after working for Sam for so long, that I was used to all the cruel shit that went down here. But something about the way those guys were talking bothered me to my core.

Trash…

I don't know what hit me first, the smell of the dumpster of the realization, but either way I jumped. I ran through the rain towards the dumpster, dropped my purse on the ground, covered it with the bulky coat, and hoisted myself up so I could look into the dumpster.

"Hello?" I called out, panic filling my voice.

I thought I saw something move, and that was good enough for me. With an adrenaline-fueled burst of energy, I threw myself into the dumpster.

I landed on the trash bag I had thrown in earlier, and panicked more. What if whatever was in here was under the bag, and I had suffocated it? I moved cautiously, trying not to hurt whatever it was I thought I had saw.

"Is anyone here?"

There was a flash of lightening, and that was when I saw it. Just for a moment, but that was enough. There was something curled up in the opposite corner of the dumpster. In the dim light, I could see a metallic collar around its neck. I crawled across the trash to the corner, and stopped about two feet away from the creature.

"Are you okay?"

It didn't move. My heart sank. It was already dead.

But the more I focused on it, trying not to cry, I could make out its chest moving up and down, slightly. Slightly was enough for me.

"I don't know if you can understand me," I said, crawling closer, "But I'm not going to hurt you." I don't know if the creature understood or not, or if it even heard me, but it did not put up a fight when I quickly picked it up. It was so cold.

I hugged it close to my chest and scrambled out of the dumpster as fast as I could. The fall hurt my knees, but the adrenaline numbed the pain. I set the thing down on the trench coat and made a pathetic attempt to swaddle it. As I did so, I saw it open its eyes once. They were the strangest shade of brown I had ever seen. But then they closed as fast as they opened.

I grabbed my purse and ran home, rain relentlessly falling from the night sky.

Luckily, I only lived about half a mile from Sam's. Half a mile, sure, but half a mile into Celadon, so the neighborhood wasn't quite as sketchy. And somehow, my out of shape self ran all the way there, only stopping outside the door of my apartment to finally catch my breath.

I took the key out of my purse while holding the Pokémon with my other arm. I managed to unlock the door, get inside, and then shut it. I didn't bother locking it.

Instead, I threw my purse to the floor and raced to the bathroom. I set the Pokémon down gently on the shut toilet lid, and began running some hot water from the tap. Gently, I began to clean it up.

That's about all I remember from that night. Somehow, I cleaned up the Pokémon, put it under my bed in the trench coat, and collapsed asleep. But I don't remember it.

Adrenaline's a bitch.


	3. Chapter 2

Before I had even fully woken up, I knew it would be a horrible day. I rolled over on my twin bed, my still damp clothes resisting the change of position. I was all ready to fall back asleep for a few more hours when I heard a strange noise. It was a sort of…tired moan. At first I didn't think anything of it.

And then I remembered last night.

I jumped up.

"Shit!"

I stumbled around for a moment, furiously rubbing my eyes and trying to wake up faster. Somehow I fell and ended up, ass first, on the cold floor. That was when I saw the trail of blood on the wooden floor. It was faint, but it was there. I flopped down onto my stomach and looked under my bed.

Those same brown eyes I had seen for only a moment last night were now staring back at me. I blinked, not remembering putting the Pokémon under the bed. Or did I?

"Are you okay?" I winced at the smell of my own morning breath. "If you're bleeding…" I let the sentence trail off, and stuck my arm under the bed. I almost thought I had got it, before it scratched me.

"Oww! Not cool." I recoiled and sat up. It hurt, but the skin wasn't broken. The Pokémon looked more defensive now, and I didn't blame it. "I'm sorry."

I stood, once again aware that my clothes were still damp. For the moment, I ignored the Pokémon, and went about my morning (or early afternoon, really) as usual. I cleaned up, changed into so clean jeans and a tank top, and threw my hair back into a pony tail. If the Pokémon wanted to hide under the bed, that wasn't my problem. Obviously it was alive enough to be a bitch.

So I went over to the mini fridge to check what was for breakfast. I frowned. Apparently today was grocery day; because the entire fridge was bottled lemonade and an old, half eaten burger. Even I wasn't dumb enough to eat that. To the grocery store, then.

Purse in hand, I barely remembered to talk to whatever was hiding under my bed. I kneeled down and looked at its brown eyes. "I'm going to get food," I explained. "I'll be back. I'll get you something, too. While I'm gone, don't die."

It didn't reply, but I assumed it got the message.

The Stop and Shop around the block from my apartment complex wasn't really a grocery store. It did, however, have all of the essentials, like bread, milk, cereal, and lemonade. I nodded a friendly hello to the shop keeper, grabbed a basket, and went on my way.

Even with all the tips, I tend to shop generic. Who really needs to buy Eevee-O's when there's generic cereal? It tastes the same—I know; I've tried them both. But somehow just buy having something as stupid as cereal or peanut butter endorsed by Gary Oak makes it that much better. Ash Ketchum also does his fair share of endorsements, but this tiny place couldn't even afford to stock that.

Honestly, this day and age it's near impossible to find a product that's not endorsed by a Pokémon celebrity.

With my basket nearly full, I wandered over to the pokefood section. If the glossy labeled cans and bags weren't enough to make my head spin, the prices sure were. I'd never shopped for pokefood before, but apparently every aspect of training was now ungodly expensive. I sent a silent apology to my mother; no wonder she could never afford it.

I grabbed a can and examined it. A whole collection of happy Pokémon decorated the front, looking very well feed. I didn't buy it. Instead, I flipped the can over and checked the ingredients. Fruit! The stupid Pokémon food was nothing but fancy canned fruit mix, topped with crushed up pokeblocks! I threw it back on the shelf in disgust, hoping the woman who ran the place didn't see me do it.

Then I went over to the produce section. I grabbed a box of strawberries, a bag of apples, and a box of blueberries—the three main ingredients of that stupid food. I checked out, and headed back to my apartment.

"Hey, Ali!"

I kept walking.

"Allison Carmichael!"

I stopped. Really? Now? Why!

I turned around. "Hey, Aiden."

He looked at the bags and laughed. "You forgot. I knew you would. Here," he said, taking the bags, "Let me help you with that."

I begrudgingly let him, and we began walking together. "Forget what?" I paused, but not long enough for him to answer. "Don't you have school right now?"

Aiden laughed. "No, that's what forgot. I have the day off today, and we were supposed to get lunch."

"Oh, right." I took a closer look at my best friend. It was hard to believe I had once been taller than him, as he pushed six feet. And even though he did not have his backpack today, he had college kid written all over him. Short cropped brown hair, glasses, and a collared shirt. I rolled my eyes, hoping he didn't see. Even on his day off, he looked like he was in school! "And why don't you have school today?"  
>"It's Professor Oak's birthday. It's…an academic thing."<p>

I looked up to the sky. No clouds, but the rains from last night kept the weather nice and cool. "Yeah, yeah, I know. An academic thing like a failure like me couldn't possibly understand." We were about a block from my apartment now. Out of habit, I began to fish around in my purse for the key.

Aiden sighed. "You know that's not what I mean, Ali. You're not a failure."

"Aiden, you're the top student at C.C and definitely going to get a fellowship by the end of the year. You're allowed to be a little full of yourself."

He just sighed again. "I guess."

We walked in silence for a while, until we were right in front of my door. My key was halfway into the lock when Aiden asked, "Hey, why did you get so much fruit?" He snickered. "I didn't think you even knew what fruit was, Ali."

It had never happened before, but I knew what it was. All the color had just drained from my face. I was not about to tell a college student about the illegal Pokémon I was harboring, even if he was my best friend.

"Um, Aiden, can you wait out here?"

He gave me a suspicious look. "Why?"

I turned the key in the lock to open the door, but did not push it open. "Because… I have underwear all over the floor. I don't want you seeing that." Even though it was nice outside, I could feel sweat forming on the nape of my neck.

"I'm sure I've seen worse, Ali. Just let me in."

He reached for the door, and I blocked him. "No!"

"Stop it!" Aiden pushed past me, and opened the door. He stepped inside, and turned back to look at me. "See, it's not that bad, even by my standards. Now, come inside."

I obeyed, shutting the door behind me. Maybe, I thought, I could get him to leave before he noticed the Pokémon. Aiden was already at my fridge, putting the groceries away.

"You know, Ali, you really need to throw away that burger," he said. "Studies have shown that—"

But Aiden never got to finish that pretentious sentence. Instead, he was interrupted by a growling noise. A growling noise coming from under my bed. He looked at me. "Ali, what's that?"

"It's a…" my eyes darted around the room, searching for an answer. "Feminine problem?" I answered, wondering if he would buy it.

Nope.

Aiden walked over to my bed. "Seriously, it can't be that bad. Just let me look…"

I followed, standing behind Aiden as he kneeled and looked under my bed.

"What is under your bed?"

I gulped. "Nothing."

"Ali, I can see something. Now tell me what it is."

I knew that tone. It was the same tone he used on me when I was eight and accidentally destroyed his mini microscope. Or when I was seventeen, and scared one of his dates away by explaining how he has to separate each food on his plate and never let them touch.

Which, by the way, he still does.

So, I spilled. I told him about last night, and my dumpster diving expedition. However, I left out the part about the illegal Pokémon fighting being underneath my job. I conveniently moved the dumpster a few blocks away. I wanted to confide in Aiden, but I still didn't want to lose my job.

For a moment, all Aiden did was stare at me. I braced for it. I was expecting some sort of speech, or for him to whip out his phone and call the police to take the Pokémon away. Instead, all he did was look back to the bed, then to me, and ask, "So do you know what type of Pokémon it is?"

I was too shocked to think up something witty to say. I just fumbled out a, "N-no," and stared at Aiden like he grew an extra head. "But I think it was bleeding earlier. It went under the bed when I was sleeping. And I think it's hungry, too. That's what the fruit is for."

And so for the next twenty minutes, Aiden and I tried to feed the creature under my bed. First, we tried the apples. We rolled one under the bed, only to have to shot back out at us a moment later, with a tiny bite mark taken out of it. Whatever it was, it wasn't desperately hungry.

Second, we tried the blueberries. Those too were thrown back, but not after a full ten seconds of growling. Not that I blamed it; blueberries are gross.

Lastly, we tried the strawberries. I threw one under the bed and waited. After a moment, when the berry wasn't throw back, Aiden and I declared a winner.

"But you can't just feed it strawberries, especially if it's hurt. You need to know what Pokémon it is, so that you can feed it a balanced diet in order to speed up the recovery process." He threw another strawberry under the bed. "Do you think it understands you?  
>I gave the creature another berry. "I really don't know. I have been talking to it, though." Even though it didn't work out last time, I reached under the bed to try and grab it. This time, it bit me.<p>

"Hey!"

Aiden looked ready to shit a brick. "Are you okay? You're bleeding!"

I rubbed my hand. "No, I'm not. It's just berry goop."

Aiden was still frowning. "Whatever it is, it reminds me of you as a little kid."

A smile crept over my face. That may have been the best insult I ever heard. I grabbed the box of strawberries and crawled towards the bed. "Hey, Pokémon," I said, making eye contact with it. "Show me your tail, and I'll give you two strawberries."

"Are you really trying to bribe a Pokémon?"

And just as Aiden was about to tell me why bribery is wrong, we saw something strange come out from under the bed.

Aiden's eyes grew wide. "How did you know it had a tail?"

"Don't all Pokémon have tails?" I shrugged, and grabbed three, plump strawberries. I rolled them under the bed. "Thanks." I know I said two, but it deserved three.

"I know what it is," Aiden said, biting his lip. "But if it is what I think it is, there's something I don't get. Why hasn't it shocked you yet?"

I gave him my classic what the hell are you talking about look.

"The Pokémon under your bed is a male Raichu. If it's aggressive enough to bite you, why won't it use Thundershock or something?"

I told Aiden about the Suppression Collar, and we agreed that it had to be taken off right away. Also, that the thing—the Raichu—needed medical attention.

"You do know that keeping an unlicensed Pokémon is extremely illegal, right?" Aiden asked, throwing the Raichu a strawberry.

I nodded. "What, are you going to call Officer Jenny on me?"

He stood up. "No. All I'm saying is that we're going to have to be very careful when we sneak it into the Student's Lab at C.C"

My mouth dropped open. "Really? You're going to help me?"

He helped me up off the floor. "I wouldn't be much of a best friend if I didn't." Aiden punched me gently in the shoulder. "Even if it is my one day off." 


	4. Chapter 3

I'm not going to bother explaining how Aiden and I got that stupid mouse to C.C.. Let's just say that it took about eight boxes of strawberries, and a pillow case I'm never going to be able to use again.

But all things considered, it was scarily easy to break into the Celadon College. Because I'd graduated in the bottom half of my high school class, I'd never been to C.C before…though I'd always imagined it being a big, imposing building with lots of locks and security measures. Turns out, the main entrance is through a gate. A simple, wooden gate, and inside the place looks more like a park than a college. There are trees, a pond, and even a playground.

That, of course, it all outside the lab.

Once Aiden got the three of us inside the building, I saw it. Honestly, getting inside was almost easier than getting through the gate. All Aiden had to do was tell the sleepy security guard that he was showing around a potential student.

"You studious types," the guard had quipped, shaking his head. "Even on your day off…"

The guy didn't even notice the ripped pillowcase I was carrying, or the stains of what could possibly have been blood. Yeah, it was blood alright. The blood of the hundreds of strawberries sacrificed to keep the stupid Pokémon quiet.

The lab was more like what I had been expecting: lots of metal, beeping machines, and charts on the wall. It was cold, and the air smelled like gross medicines. I skimmed most of the charts, not caring to read about type match ups or how Ditto breeding works. It was all a bunch of college mumbo jumbo. Though I will admit, the one nice thing about the college was the new resources.

Instead of bribing the Raichu, Aiden simply stuck it, while still in the pillowcase, with a syringe full of what he called a sedative.

"Don't worry," he told me, spotting the look in my face. "It's just a blend of Stun Spore and Sleep Powder from a resident Butterfree. The Raichu will be right as rain as soon as its sprayed with a Full Heal."

I relaxed a little bit, and stepped back to watch as Aiden took the Raichu out of the pillowcase and laid it on to the metal examining table. He stared at the unconscious Pokémon for a moment before turning around.

"I'm going to need help with this," he said, speaking without looking at me. He went over to what looked to be a wall full of drawers, opened one, and scanned it. The drawer was full of Pokéballs! I watched as Aiden took one out, pressed the button once to expand the ball to its true size, and again to release the Pokémon inside of it.

As it materialized from the red light, I asked, "Are you really sure a Pokémon is going to help?"

Aiden just smiled at me. "Of course, Wiggles is used to doing lab reports with me. She's a pro at it."

My jaw dropped. "Wiggles?" I repeated incredulously. "You're Pokémon can't be named—"

And then it appeared. It was a pink puff ball, with stubby arms and legs and a belly that made me crave red jello. But despite its cute appearance, the thing's blue eyes were intense and calculating, looking ready for a challenge. Then it saw me.

"Wiggly, wiggly!"

The puff ball ran over and engulfed me in a hug. I was so flattered I forgot to breath. I looked at Aiden as it let me go, beaming from ear to ear. "Why didn't you tell me you had a Pokémon!"

He just shrugged and blushed a little as the Pokémon scampered over to his side. "I've raised Wiggles from an egg, and I've already made arrangements with the college to take it once I graduate. But it's sort of not something I'm supposed to be bragging about."

The Pokémon bounced in place, glowing with pride.

"So what Pokémon is it?"

Aiden rubbed its puffy hair. "This is a Wigglytuff. I named it Wiggles right when it first hatched, because it wouldn't stop moving. The name just sort of…stuck."

With all the formalities out of the way, I watched as Aiden and Wiggles examined the Raichu from top to bottom, measuring every inch of it and checking its wounds. As the exam drew to a close almost an hour later, I was sitting on some counter I probably shouldn't have been sitting on, waiting to hear my good and bad news.

The good news? Whatever had been fighting the Raichu had left a deep puncture wound, but it had not pierced any vital organs and the wound was healing nicely. The Pokémon would recover to near full health.

Then Aiden sighed. "The bad news is that, as the collar indicates, this is an illegal Pokémon."

I frowned, but said nothing.

"Basically, as soon as this Pokémon hatched, it was hurried into evolving into a Pikachu. Then, as soon as it was a Pikachu, it had a Thunder Stone slapped on it." He paused to sigh again, petting Wiggles for support. "It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't understand the mechanics behind proper breeding, but this Raichu is messed up, Ali. From the way his skin looks, he's had that collar on since he hatched."

The realization of what that meant made me sick to my stomach. That stupid, strawberry loving Raichu had never once gotten to use its natural power. I silently wondered if it even knew the power it was supposed to posses.

"That's horrible," was all I could say.

He nodded in agreement. "What's worse is that no one here at the college will take him in—he's too much of a project with too little payoff. No investor wants to know how to rehabilitate an abused Pokémon. I'm sorry, Ali, but there's really only one thing to humanley do to this Pokémon."

The Wigglytuff looked like she was about to cry.

I bit my lip. "It's not fair!" I yelled, unaware of how loud I had been until my voice echoed off the metal inside and Wiggles jumped back. "Just because none of you college nerds want him doesn't mean that he's not a good Pokémon. If only someone would give him a chance!"

Aiden took the offensive. "And who's going to do that, Ali? Who? Just try to find one spoiled rich brat that would take a broken Raichu over some new, imported Totodile or Lillipup. You can't. People today don't care about fixing anything that's broken."

I jumped off from where I was sitting. I felt only inches from punching Aiden in his glasses wearing face. By now, Wiggles was hiding in a corner. Heart racing, I walked over to the table where the Raichu was.

"I want him."  
>"You can't have him." Aiden said, with a strange tone of stern and humorous. "You're not in any position to start a Pokémon journey, and no college in there right mind would admit you." Aiden was worked up now; I could see it in his red face. We were both about to start saying things we truly believed, but never said out loud in respect of our friendship.<p>

"And you're not in any position to tell me what to do! You may have gone to college, but you're just as stupid as everyone else. You'd rather kill that poor Pokémon than give it a chance."

I was ready to launch another verbal attack, when Aiden surprised me. "You really think you can hack being a Pokémon trainer?"

His soft tone and steady voice took me aback. "I…I don't know. But I do know that I'm responsible for that Pokémon."

Wiggles had cautiously shimmied back over to us. I may have been wrong, but it sounded like the pink thing was purring.

"What I'm about to help you do is highly illegal." Aiden said, giving Wiggles a nod. The Pokémon ran off to another part of the lab.

I raised an eyebrow. "More illegal than using school property without permission?"

Aiden nodded. "Oh yeah. Way more illegal."

Turns out that he wasn't kidding.

First, Aiden forged me a Pokémon license. It was easier than I thought it would be. All he did was design something to look just like his college Pokémon license, change a few words around, add my name, add my picture, and print it. Viola! I stared at the thing incredulously. It takes four to six weeks to get clearance for a real Pokémon license, not to mention the arm and a leg fee, and here I had gotten mine for free! Sure, it was a fake, but it looked damn good to me.

Next came the tough part: a Pokédex. Traditional Pokédexes were the red, blocky things with one, slightly creepy, male voice. Nowadays, the Pokédex is some franekstien fusion of a tablet, a cell phone, a laptop, and a Pokémon database all rolled into one. I could barely afford to look at one, much less pay for it or the outrageous data plan that came with it.

Luckily, Aiden had a better solution.

"Because of the special licensing they use now, using a Pokédex for identification is superfluous. So," he pulled out a blue, blocky thing I assumed to be a Pokédex, "No one will care if your Pokédex doesn't work."

I grabbed the dinosaur technology and examined it. It felt oddly light.

"All the internal components have been removed." He smiled. "Basically, all you have there is an empty shell of what used to be a Pokédex. No one will know it doesn't work except you, and if any one asks, just say it's vintage."

I cracked up at that one. "Aiden, you're a genius."

He gave me a playful wink. "I know."

So that was that. I had my Pokémon, my liscence, and my Pokémon. I was good to go.

Or so I thought. After tuning out everything else Aiden said I needed before I got started, he eventually gave up and offered to get everything together for me. And so while he put the bag together, I played with Wiggles.

Once the bag was all set to go, filled with maps and charts and who knows what else, Aiden and I knew we had one last thing to do.

"Before I take it off, though," Aiden said, "I want you to have these."

I couldn't believe what he was holding out for me: a pair of garish, yellow gloves with hot pink lining. "Uh, what?"

He blushed a little. "It's based off the legend of Ash Ketchum. When he first got his Pikachu, he was given a pair of rubber gloves by his mother. The rumor of the legend is that those gloves helped him train the Pikachu to be extremely powerful."

I just stuffed the gloves into the backpack and gave Aiden a skeptical, "Uhu."

With that out of the way, he finally removed the Suppression Collar from the Raichu. It was a slow process, not only because the collar was not designed to be removed, but because it was almost too small for the poor Pokémon. Even though the Raichu was unconscious, he took in a large gasp of air as soon as the collar was removed. Aiden gave the collar to Wiggles, who disposed of it somewhere, I assumed.

Then Wiggles brought Aiden the bottle of Full Heal.

"Before I wake it up though," Aiden said.

"What? You need to give me an apron to go with my gloves?"

"No." He handed me a Pokéball. You should capture the Pokémon, so you can quickly put it in the ball. An illegal Pokémon is much less conspicuous its ball.

I had to agree. So I gently tossed the ball against the unconscious Raichu. I captured him without a hitch. Then I let him back out, and Aiden sprayed him.

Groggy, the Raichu rubbed his eyes and stretched out. I smiled; he was so cute.

But as soon as he had fully awakened, something changed. The Raichu looked around the lab, panicked, and screamed, "Rai-CHU!"

A bolt of lightening erupted from the Raichu. The energy seared a hole through the celing, set off the fire alarms and set off the sprinkler system.

I fumbled with the Pokéball before pointing it at the Raichu and yelling, "Return!"

In the distance, Aiden and I could hear sirens.

Wiggles retreated back into her Pokéball.

Aiden looked ready to explode. "You have to go now!" He ordered, shoving the backpack into my hands and pushing me out the door. I put the Pokéball in my pocket, and looked at Aiden one last time.

"Thank you."

"Run!"

I didn't have to be told that twice.


	5. Chapter 4

I ran past at least three police officers a I fled from C.C., but none of them gave me a second glace. Why would they? I'm just a twenty year old kid with a backpack running through the college district of Celadon. In the blocks surrounding the college, every other person had a backpack, and most of them were late for something.

So by panicking, I fit right in.

It wasn't until I had made it out of the college district and closer to east Celadon that I stopped running. They would never think to look this far away from the college, or so I told myself. And even though I stopped running, I kept moving.

When I finally arrived back at my apartment, I slammed the door shut, locked it and collapsed. I was safe!

And for a brief moment, I thought it was all done. I had saved the Raichu, gotten forged papers for it, and escaped the law. All that was left to do was take a nap, clean up, and go to work—the latter half of my usual routine.

Somewhere in between accidentally knocking the door with my elbow and recovering from the mini hear attack that gave me, it dawned on me: I had to leave Celadon. I might be done, but the police officers sure weren't. I could only imagine the hell that it would be for the next few weeks. They would go door to door, check all the licenses, and interrogate everyone.

So I had to leave.

As I packed some clothing, toiletries, the rest of my money, and whatever food I could, I didn't think I would be gone for long. A week, tops, just until I wasn't so jumpy anymore. It would be a nice chance to check out Saffron City, too.

I was just about to leave, when I thought about the Raichu. I wondered if he knew what was going at all. An insatiable curiosity and guilt rushed over me all at once, and I grabbed the Pokéball out of the backpack. I just had to explain things to him.

After spending what seemed like forever trying to find the damn thing, I threw it at the floor, expecting the Raichu to just pop right out.

It hit the floor with a dull thud. Nothing happened.

So I picked up the thing. I inspected it, and found a small, circular button I couldn't believe I missed the first time. I tried to press it. In that moment I realized why children were trained at the age of ten to use Pokémon: It took the fingers of a ten year old to open the damn Pokéball!

Finally, I pressed the button, and it grew to about four times its original size. Triumphant, I threw the ball to the floor again. This time, it make a strange popping noise, and a red light flooded out of it.

From that light, the Raichu emerged.

I braced myself, assuming he would shock me or burn the apartment down or whatever Pokémon do. Instead, he simply looked at me, sat down on the floor, cocked his head and said, "Chu?"

I took a deep breath. "Thanks," I replied, "For not destroying my apartment."

From there, I explained everything to him as best I could. How I found him in the rain, cleaned him up, and took him to C.C.. Then about the tests and how we took the collar off, and why it was that we had to leave.

At that, he looked distraught.

"It's not your fault!" I added, waving my arms in a desperate attempt to not hurt his feelings. "You didn't know what you were doing."

He cocked his head again, seemed to think about what I said, and smiled.

It was only then that what Aiden said made sense to me. Even though this Pokémon looked like the older and was in its final evolution, he was still young. His emotions bounced back like a third grader's! I motioned for him to come closer, and he sat in my lap. I rubbed behind his ears.

"It's just you and me now, okay? But I promise I'll protect you."

From there, it was easy to get him to go back in the Pokéball, and a struggle to make the thing close up again. Feeling cautious, I placed the Pokéball not back in my backpack, but in my pocket—just in case I needed him any time soon.

And as I shut my apartment door, I had no idea I would never be coming back.

Due to all the commotion going on, I couldn't safely travel over to Saffron from my apartment. Instead, I decided to cut down, through gym territory, and then sneak back up. It meant avoiding the police, but the gym thugs could be just as bad.

As the Pokémon laws increased, gym leaders gained more and more power. After all, they controlled which rich kids got badges and which didn't. But, after a string of gym badge burglaries around the time I was in seventh grade, they began to beef up their security. Gym trainers got larger, more imposing. By league regulations they're Pokémon had to be within a certain strength bracket, but they sure didn't.

Gym leaders also began to employ what can only be described as trainer mercenaries to watch their gyms as well. Overall it made for a brutal—yet effective—strategy. They gyms were well protected, and the gym leader hardly had to raise a finger.

Luckily for me, the Celadon gym kept a pretty tame reputation. Though Erica had long ago passed leadership of the gym down to her little sister Cecilia, they still kept their all girl and all grass sensibilities. Plus, they helped maintain the large park in the center of Celadon, established about twenty years ago.

The same park I was sneaking through.

I tried not to run or look suspicious, but it's hard when you're worried about being arrested for the illegal Pokémon in your pocket. And even though I had almost made it through with no incidents (I did almost attack an ice cream sales man when he startled me, but that was totally his fault) I still did not feel safe.

I felt a little solace in the weather. As the day progressed, clouds had come in. They coated the sky in grey gauze, and made it about ten degrees cooler outside. That, plus the breeze, made it a fabulous day to go on the lam, as far as the weather went.

As the trees cleared, I could see the gym. It was a glorious building, renovated countless times, towering into the sky and coated with plants. It almost looked inviting, if you could forget about the thugs inside.

"Give that back!"

I jumped, only to realize that the scream was not directed at me.

The scene in front of me was horrifying. Two…well girls is being nice…were taunting a younger, frail looking girl. Her mouse brown pigtails cascaded down to her waist, and her stylish trainer outfit consisted of primarily light yellow. Compared to the butch gym trainer, she looked like a lemon scented angel. One man-girl held the young girl's backpack above her head, while the other man-girl did the same with a Pokéball.

"What are you going to do about it, huh?" The first man-girl taunted. She took some food out of the backpack and crushed it under her giant food.

The young girl squealed. "No! I need that! And give me back my Pokémon!"

The taunting continued. I felt sick to my stomach, but knew I shouldn't interfere. Breaking up a fight like this involved gym trainers was not a good way to stay under the radar. And I was so close to being out of Celadon!

So I turned around.

"Hey! What are you looking at?"

I wasn't even a hundred and eighty degrees around when I heard that shout. I winced—there was no way that wasn't for me. So I turned back around.

"Nothing." I replied, still backing away slowly. There was a chance I could still make it out without dealing with this mess.

But then the young girl looked at me. Despite looking like she might crumbled apart in a strong breeze, the girl had some sort of expression on her face that scared me. And as I was trying to figure out what it was, she winked at me. I had no idea why until—

"Sister!" The girl shot over to me and, before I could stop her, and thrown her arms around me. "They're being so mean! Make them give me my Pokémon back!"

Shit. It was that kind of wink. I looked at the young girl with a scowl on my face. She looked young, but she stood about three inches taller than me. These man-girls were stupid, but there was no way they were going to believe I was this girl's older sister.

"If you're her sister, why don't you fight me? If you win, I'll give her Pokémon back."

Or maybe they would. I took a deep breath, and gently pushed the lemon angel away from me. A small battle outside a gym shouldn't cause too much of a stir, I thought, and I couldn't just leave the poor girl like that. I reached for the Pokéball in my pocket.

"My name is Catherine," she whispered to me, "Thanks!"

I felt bad for Catherine. Obviously she assumed I was a strong trainer.

I strutted over to the man-girls while attempting to grow my Pokéball to full size. I couldn't find the damn button, but I knew I had to keep up the façade of a tough trainer. That Catherine was going to owe me.

"Give my sister back her stuff!" I demanded, a little louder than I meant.

The thugs snickered. The second man-girl pulled a Pokéball out from seemingly nowhere, and grew it to full size at an ease that made my blood boil. "Make me."

Without another word, the man-girl threw the Pokéball. Out came a weird looking Pokémon, kind of like a walking salad.

I barely glanced at it before going back to trying to open my Pokéball. Finally, I got it! I threw the Pokéball, and out came Raichu. He looked confused, but after looking at the Pokémon in front of him, then at me, and then back at the Pokémon, he understood.

Or at least, I hoped he understood.

The thug smirked. "Okay! Oddish, use Stun Spore!"

I could only watch as the salad began to blow some sort of orange powder at Raichu.

"Dodge it!" I ordered, not wanting him hurt. Luckily, he obeyed, and the yellow dust floated off harmlessly in the breeze.

I knew I had to make Raichu attack…except, I had no idea what attacks he knew. I bit my lip and decided just to go with, "Raichu, attack!"

He didn't use an electric move like I wanted, but instead started moving faster and faster until he bashed himself into the unsuspecting Oddish. I smiled. I felt awful thinking it, but there seemed to be some benefit to having a Pokémon that used to fight illegally.

Thinking I had a moment, I groped in my backpack, looking for the lsit where Aiden wrote down Raichu's moves. Raichu was good, but iin order to defeat a grym trainer, we needed more than luck.

As I hunted for the list, I watched helplessly as Raichu endured some sort of move where the Oddish seemed to sucked health from Raichu, and then absorbed it back into itself. I ground my teeth. That looked like cheating!

But finally I found the sheet. I took it out and examined it. I had no idea which one would be best to use, but the last of the four moves had a star next to it.

"Attack now!" Catherine shouted, speaking for the first time since the battle started. I looked at the Oddish. It had a look of almost pain on it's face, and a small ball of light was growing in the middle of its leaves. Whatever it was, it didn't look good.

In a last ditch effort, I called out the move with the star next to it. "Raichu, Thunderbolt!"

Screaming his name, Raichu released a huge burst of electric energy right onto the Oddish! The Oddish's eyes grew wide. It stumbled for a moment, before collapsing.

The man-girl let out a horrified squeal. "Look what you did! Oddish, return!" The Oddish returned to the Pokéball in a flash of red light, and the man-girl dropped Catherine's Pokéball, before running into the gym while bawling her eyes out.

"You might have defeated her, but if you want your precious bag, you'll have to defeat Sarah!" With that, she ran into the gym as well.

Catherine wasted no time scooping up her Pokéball. She inspected it for damage, and when satisfied, turned to me. "You really saved my butt," she said, "Thanks."

"You owe me." I replied, doing my best to look as unhappy as possible. I waved for Raichu to come over, and he did, scampering up my body to sit on my head. His claws hurt and it was very uncomfortable, but I let it go given that he had just kicked some Oddish ass.

She blushed. "I know. But they took my only Pokémon and I had to get her back!" Catherine paused, regaining her composure. "But you really are the one who owes me. Electric is not very good against grass; what were you thinking? If I hadn't of told you to attack the Oddish while it was stupidly attempting to power up a Solar Beam attack on such a cloudy day, you would had been toast."

I glared at her. "I was thinking that I was going to help a little girl out, with the only Pokémon I have. Now, I'm going to go. See ya."

As I started to walk away, she grabbed my arm.

I shook her off.

"You can't go!"

"And why the hell not?"

She looked down at the ground sheepishly. "They took my backpack, and they scare me. I can't go get it back all alone."

"So go get a new one!" Judging by her clothes, she could totally afford one.

Her face was now red with frustration. "You don't get it! That bag has my medicine in it, and if I don't get it…" She let out a pitiful whimper.

Raichu growled, and I stroked his back softly to calm him down. "Fine. I'll help you just this once, and then you'll let me leave. Okay?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Okay!"

With her sticking closer to me than my own shadow, we approached the gym. "My name really is Catherine, by the way. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Ali," I said, before I could think. If anything, that had to have been one of the biggest mistakes I made early in my career: telling her my real name.


	6. Chapter 5

As we walked towards the imposing gym, the clouds began to grow darker. The wind picked up too, and I shivered. Why the hell didn't I pack a jacket? At least it wasn't—

It started raining.

Raichu, who had started shaking, was obviously not a fan of the rain. So, with some struggling, I opened up the Pokéball and let him back in. After I put the ball back in my bag, Catherine raised an eyebrow at me. I ignored it and kept walking.

However, Catherine stopped in the building's threshold, just under the awning that covered the door. I was still cold, but at least it kept the rain off.

I had already gone an extra two steps before I realized that she had stopped. I looked back at her. "Are you coming?"

She looked down at the ground, and mumbled something I couldn't quite understand. Whatever it was, I didn't care. I reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Oh no," I told her, as I pulled her into the gym. "You are not just gonna wait around out here while I do all the hard work."

Her big, brown eyes just stared back, and then she nodded. "Yeah," Catherine acquiesced. "Besides, there's no way you could defeat the gym leader without me."

Now that was too much. "Excuse me?" I demanded, as we walked into the gym. The change in temperature was enough to make me smile, even though Catherine had just insulted me. It was so warm! Thinking about it, it made sense that a gym filled with grass Pokémon would be all warm and delicious feeling.

For the moment, I let the insult go and took a look around. I had never seen the inside of a real gym. Occasionally, they would be used as sets in movies, but everyone who saw the films always commented about how the movie interpretations were so inaccurate.

And they were right. The large room was divided up into multiple areas, with plants seeming to grow out of the floor. Towards the entrance was a smoothie bar boosting smoothies made with imported pollen, where a few girls sat at the bar, sipping their drinks and giggling. Across from the smoothie bar was a gift shop, selling everything from Celadon Gym hats and shirts, to the more obscure Celadon Gym bra and panty set. As I was staring at the exorbitant prices of all the merchandise, I noticed the speakers were calmly spouting out some pop song I didn't know.

But as soon as I saw the two thugs at the other end of the gym floor frantically mumbling into a phone, a cold chill ran through me.

Either Catherine was unmoved, or so freaked out that she couldn't freak out any more. My bet was on the latter.

"You got lucky with your Raichu against that Oddish," Catherine whispered. A few girls at the bar pointed at us and giggled. "And because you pulled that one out, I assume it's your only Pokémon. If you even want to stand a chance against Sarah, you'll need a fire Pokémon."

I didn't want to let her know that everything she had just said went over my head. Fire Pokémon? Half taking off my backpack, I dug through it and found the folder Aiden had put together for me. I flipped through and was looking for the type chart he said was in here when Catherine spoke up.

"What are you doing with that?" She asked, looking down on the papers in my hand. "You know you can just find all of that on your Pokédex, right?"

I bit my lip. Now didn't seem like the time to tell her I technically didn't have a Pokédex because I technically wasn't a trainer. "Mine's broken," I said quickly, before she could get too suspicious. "I left it in my jacket and then put it in the washing machine." Luckily, she seemed convinced. I actually had no idea if that would ruin a Pokédex or not, but it had definitely ruined a lot of other electronics I used to own.

She sighed. "Then you'll need to borrow my Pokédex as well. You got away with not having one earlier because that trainer was dumb as a sack of berries. But here, against Sarah, you'll need a Pokédex."

I then made the mistake of asking, "Why?"

Catherine glared at me. For a moment, I thought she was about to ring my neck with her scrawny hands. She opened her mouth to explain, when we were interrupted by a nicely dressed woman. She seemed to be just a few years older than me, but the hostess outfit and proper makeup made her look infinitely more refined. She stood there, in a tight blue dress with a white apron and a matching white hat, with her light blue hair falling just past her shoulder blades.

"Excuse me," the woman said, bowing slightly and smiling so much that it looked like it hurt. "But the gym leader will see you now."

Unsure of what to do, I looked at Catherine. She nodded for me to go, and so I followed the happy hostess, pulling Catherine along behind me.

She lead us to an open area in the middle of the gym, with the stereotypical gym floor logo emblazoned on the ground with grass and flowers. Then the hostess bowed again, and said, "She will be here any minute."

I was still staring at the floor and wondering how exactly they got the plants to grow like that, when Catherine shoved a Pokéball and a Pokédex into my hands. My eyes grew wide. They were both beautiful—the Pokéball was made of something shinier than usual, and the Pokédex was the lastest release, all touch screen and chrome. Thinking of the price tag on either of the items, I felt a little sick touching them. "What Pokémon is this?" I asked, staring at the ball as if I could see through it.

Catherine's eyes flicked up, and then back to me. "Just trust me," she whispered in a hush voice. "Now, turn on the Pokédex, choose four moves, and release the Pokémon. That's all you need to do."

"Friends of challengers shall stand at least two yards away from the challenger at all times." The calm yet authoritative voice rang out all over the gym. Everyone stopped talking, and even the music turned off.

I looked up to see who had just spoke, and my mouth fell open. The woman wearing the green kimono was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She seemed to float as she walked, and her long, black hair bounced in perfect rhythm with her steps. With all that makeup on her face, she looked like a walking china doll. I suddenly felt extremely underdressed in my slightly damp sneakers, jeans, and black tank top.

She smiled at me. "So, you're the trainer that I've been told about. It's nice to meet you, trainer." Even with her beautiful voice, the speech still sounded rehearsed. "My name is Sarah, and I am the gym leader of the Celadon City Gym." She paused for a moment. "You'll have to excuse me, trainer. I was not expecting you today, and so I only have one Pokémon in battle ready condition at the moment. Is that alright?"

I turned around to look at Catherine, who was nodding so vigorously I thought her head was going to fall off. "Yeah," I told Sarah, still somewhat unsure. "Sounds good."

She nodded. "Then let us lock in our moves." I was about to ask what she was talking about, when she produced a Pokédex from somewhere in her Kimono and began doing something on it.

Putting the still small Pokéball in my poket, I turned on Catherine's Pokédex. It took a moment to boot up, and then it joined some network. Somehow, it then knew I was in the Celadon gym and about to battle Sarah. Next thing I knew, I was at some page and it was asking me to select moves. I had no idea what any of them were, but picked a few that I thought looked good. Most of them had fire something in the name, which made me a little more confident. At least she had given me a good Pokémon.

When I looked up, I noticed a small crowd had gathered around the area. I took a deep breath, and looked at Sarah.

She smiled. "Well then, if you've selected your moves, let us begin." Sarah then produced a Pokéball from her kimono (where was she keeping this stuff?) and threw it into the arena. "Vileplume, I choose you!"

"Shit," I cursed. I knew about Vileplume. Granted, it was only because I went through a green phase in middle school and had a Vileplume lunchbox, but still! It was the scariest thing I had ever seen with a flower on its head. It popped out of the Pokéball with a graceful ease, and puffed a small burst of pollen out of it's flower.

Show off.

I straightened my posture. "Let's do this," I said, more for show than anything else. I didn't want to do this—I wanted to leave! I silently sent up prayers to whatever legendary Pokémon might be listening, and threw the Pokéball.

My brows furrowed. "What the—"

The Pokédex interrupted me. "Magby, it said, "The live coal Pokémon."

"That's all I need," I said, feeling infinitely more confident now. The screen on the Pokédex went back to the four moves I had already chosen.

The Pokémon, the Magby, looked back at me with a quizzical look. It was only once it received a thumbs up from Catherine that it seemed okay with what was going on. However, in that lull, Sarah had made the first move.

"Vileplume," she commanded, her sickly sweet voice now grating on my nerves, "Use sunny day!"

With an intense amount of concentration, the Vileplume somehow began generating sunshine inside the gym! Its petals began to glow, and I felt screwed.

Frantically, I looked down at the move list. "Err, Magby, smog now!"

Opening its mouth, the red Pokémon began blowing the most foul, black smoke I have ever seen, or smelled. I covered my mouth with my hand as best I could. The upside to the foul smoke was that, while it did not totally block out the artificial sun, it made the visibility go way down.

Through the smog, I heard Sarah yell, "Get it with a razor leaf!"

Suddenly, hundreds of tiny leaves began to fill the arena. I panicked, too focused on the leaves to look at the Pokédex. "Burn 'em!" I yelled, before realizing that 'destroy all the leaves with fire' was not a move I had selected.

But Magby did it anyway.

And in that moment, I figured out the rules of the game. The four moves were what you could officially use. But no one was going to stop you from getting creative.

I felt triumphant until I heard, "Solar beam!"

A blast of yellow light struck Magby out of the smoke cloud. It didn't look good. I glanced down at the moves, knowing I had to act fast. He wouldn't survive another blast of that beam.

"Okay, Magby, faint attack!" From somewhere in the smoke cloud, Magby attacked. I saw a blast of yellow again, followed by a cry. However, it didn't sound like Magby's. Assuming Catherine's Pokémon was still okay, I looked down at the Pokédex and chose something at random. There were three moves I hadn't tried, and as I was about to chose some fire move, I noticed that the smog was disappearing. So much for my plan. I needed to stall.

"Confuse ray!" I yelled, and watched as Magby prepared to throw a strange light onto Vileplume.

Just as he was about to, Sarah countered with, "Poison powder!"

The confuse ray traveled through the poison powder, and reflected it. The spectacle was beautiful, like watching tiny stars. At least it was until I realized that, while I had confused the Vileplume, it had poisoned the Magby.

Smoke came out of its nose now. It didn't look good. I knew I needed to finish this.

So did the Vileplume, who had begun firing out solar beams at random. Luckily they all missed due to the Vileplume's confusion. I panicked, caught between the last two moves I hadn't tried, wondering which one would work better. I decided to go with, "Magby, Lava plume!"

Magby summoned the last of its strength, and suddenly lava began exploding out of nowhere! It started at the floor, burning the pretty flower arrangement, and struck the Vileplume in what looked to be a hailstorm from hell! Confused and battered, the Vileplume spun around once, fired off a final Solar Beam, and collapsed onto the ashy remains of the flower floor. As it did, the artificial sunlight in the gym faded.

"Vileplume is unable to battle," the Pokédexs spoke in unison. "Magby is the winner!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, and Catherine ran up behind me. She grabbed the Pokéball from me, summoned Magby back, and then locked her arms around me in the tightest hug I had ever felt.

"You were wonderful!" She squealed, jumping up and down slightly and taking me with her. "Amazing!"

"You're…crushing…me," I managed to squeak out.

Blushing furiously, she let me go. "Oh, heh, sorry!"

When I turned back to look at Sarah, she had already summoned her Vileplume back. "What a pity," she said. "It will take days to re-grow that floor."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What about your Pokémon?" It boggled my mind that she did not even care that I had just wrecked her Vileplume.

Sarah simply shrugged. She approached me, gliding over the ashes. "Trainer, in defeating me you have earned the Rainbow Badge." She pulled out a small badge that looked like a flower with rainbow colored leaves, and handed it to me.

I took it, looked it over once, and stuffed it in my jeans pocket. "Thanks."

"Normally I would also give you the technical machine for Solar Beam, but I happen to be out of them." One of the gym trainers came up and handed Sarah a t shirt, which she then handed to me. "But here, have a Celadon Gym shirt instead."

I stuffed the shirt in my backpack. It didn't really seem fair, but I just wanted to get out of there. I repeated my thanks, and turned to leave.

"What about my backpack!" Catherine said, recoiling a little after her outburst. Silently, one of the gym thugs gave it back to her, and she hugged it to her chest as if it were going to run away.

With that done, I hurried out of there as fast as I could, with Catherine at my heels still going on and on about the battle. Outside, the storm had subsided some. It was still cold, but at least the rain had stopped. I handed her back her Pokédex. "Now, I got your stuff back, so here's your Pokédex. See ya later."

"Wait! Where are you going?"

I sighed. "It's none of your business where I'm going."

I only got about two steps away before she called out, "Can I come with you?"  
>"What?" I turned on my heels. She looked so pathetic, with her small framed dwarfed by that giant back, and that pleading look on her pale face. "Why the hell would you want to come with me?"<p>

She took a step closer to me, and together we began walking away from the gym complex. "I'm all alone here in Kanto. It's… Well it's a long story. Why do you not want me to go with you? Most trainers travel in groups anyway."

I looked away, staring at the trees on the outskirt of the park I had come through. "I'm not most trainers. It's a long story."

"Then we should stick together! After all, you said yourself that your Pokédex is broken, and you can't defeat gym leaders without a working Pokédex."

I wanted to shake this kid. I wanted to tell her that I didn't want to defeat any more gym leaders. All I wanted to do was hang out away from Celadon until the heat died down and no one was looking for an illegal Raichu.

"Besides," she added, her doe eyes fixed on her Pokédex, "Look how much money you earned from that win!"

Unable to help myself, I looked at the screen. My mouth dropped open. That was a whole month's pay! In just one stupid battle!

"You've already got one gym badge."

I took the small thing out of my pocket. "Shouldn't this be yours? I mean, I beat her with your Pokémon."

Catherine shook her head. We were now halfway to the south gate. "No. Magby is mine, but you were the one commanding him. You're a really good trainer, Ali."

That clinched it. I didn't want to go be a trainer and collect gym badges, but I had wanted to. The badge in my hand glinted in the sunlight. This was everything I had wanted as a child, and it paid! I stopped, and looked at Catherine. "How about this? We do one more gym, and then I'll decide?"

Catherine's face lit up. "Sure! But if you want to get to another gym quickly, we're going to have to go east, not south."

Giving up arguing with her, I changed my direction to walk towards the east gate, and not the south gate as I had originally planned. "To Saffron?" I asked.

She shook her head and giggled. "Not if you want to win. No, we need to go east to Lavender first. You need a ghost Pokémon!"

f


End file.
